A Huge Caravan of Central Americans Are Making Their Way to the US!

Mexican immigration agents manning the border watch on as Central Americans make their way through for the U.S. in droves. At present, the Central Americans total more than 1,000 in number. Most of the immigrants are from Honduras. The demographic is constituted of children, women, and men seeking to find a better life.

Together, they have traversed numerous immigration checkpoints, police points, and military bases in their desperate march towards the United States. Shockingly enough, officials in Mexico are unbothered by their presence despite them not having authorized traveling documents.

The group has been on the march for five days now and has been organized by volunteers going by the name Pueblos Sin Fronteras. The organization means ‘People Without Borders’. By banding together as a caravan, they aim to help migrants find a safe haven in the United States

So far, they seem to be well on course to achieving this objective. However, they are still yet to encounter authorities that will make attempts to deport them. Others include gangs and cartels that are notorious for assaulting vulnerable migrants.

Hope

However, the organizers like Rodrigo Abeja are quite hopeful that the sheer size of the crowd will act as a deterrent for criminals and immigration authorities seeking to cause trouble. To soothe the large crowd, organizers often give reassurances to the masses.

One of them going by the name Abeja is tasked with shouting through loudspeakers to remind them of the need to stay as a unit. By reinforcing this belief among the immigrants, they hope that all of them will go unharmed in their modern-day odyssey.

Most of the travelers, about 80%, originate from Honduras

The organizers are quite hopeful that their arrival in the U.S will be greeted by American authorities eager to grant them asylum. Incredibly, they are also hopeful that some of the authorities will be absent in order for them to illegally cross over into the U.S.

Irrespective of what happens in the end, their arrival is sure to become a thorny issue for the Trump administration to deal with given the lack of immigration policies that can cater for organized groups of migrants in the hundreds.

Numbers Game

While the idea is a novel one, the caravan organizers admit to being shocked by the numerous people who showed up. The Pueblos Sin Fronteras could account for about 1,200 people on the first day alone. Given the large numbers, the caravan easily overwhelmed numerous towns along their travels. Especially when it came to finding a place to lie their heads.

The Honduran travelers are fleeing the adverse effects of political unrest, poverty, and violence that has ravaged their country following the swearing in of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. The widespread disorder in their home country is as a result of a hotly contested election. Occasionally, during their travels, the caravan retorts to shouts of “out with JOH”, ” we aren’t immigrants, we’re international workers”, and “the people will never be defeated.”

Order

About two-thirds of the immigrants are willing to attempt to cross over into the U.S. They intend to do this in order to chase the ever-elusive American dream. Their intent is to seek asylum from American authorities. The rest are probably going to seek to establish their legal status in Mexico.

The caravan is organized in groups of 10-15 people with a designated leader for each of this numbers. The designation was planned by organizers of The Pueblo Sin Fronteras right before the journey commenced. By further organizing the people into small sects charged with handling, food, logistics, and security, the organizers sought to establish a sense of empowerment amongst the travelers.

Hurdles

One of the immigrants, 29-year-old, Mateo Juan revealed that this was his third attempt at getting into the United Staes. Just seven months ago, Mexican immigration officials had withdrawn from a bus. A similar incident occurred to him a month ago.

Obviously, he was ecstatic when he learned about the caravan’s intentions in March. Quickly, he set himself up to commence the journey with fellow travelers at the starting point in Tapachula. His experience has enabled him to have the wisdom of knowing the safety afforded by the large crowd. According to solo escapades often lead one to become exposed to various afflictions like robberies and other threats to life.

In the last week, they’ve been busy practicing how to board ‘La Bestia’, a mammoth-sized train that is notoriously dangerous. All their hopes lie in boarding the train in order to make their way to the U.S. border.